"I'm not a one-and-done guy," O'Brien told Pennlive.com on Thursday night. "I made a commitment to these players at Penn State, and that's what I am going to do. I'm not gonna cut and run after one year, that's for sure."

O'Brien might be staying for a lot of reasons, aside from his emotional connection to Penn State. His reported buyout might have been prohibitive. He might have learned he couldn't quickly close an NFL deal, and a week in limbo would have been devastating for his recruiting efforts. Or this might have been O'Brien's end game all along: Pennlive.com reported the coach received a $1.3 million gift from a prominent donor to bring his total compensation to $3.6 million, according to high-level Penn State sources.

Linta told Breer that "integrity was far more important (to O'Brien) than any financial considerations."

O'Brien's camp made it clear over the last week that he would entertain NFL offers. He met with two teams but now is quickly off the market after coaching the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record in his first season amid immense challenges.

Penn State didn't play in a bowl game, but O'Brien just scored a major postseason victory.